Moon Drunk
by Lindo
Summary: Eöl's story, from his own perspective, starting from the time he left Doriath. It's in experimental stages; I haven't written much, and criticism is welcome.


**A/N:** For some reason, I picture Eöl looking somewhat like Karl Urban as Vaako in "The Chronicles of Riddick." (yeah, i know lol) Take it or leave it, just thought I'd have my say.

Also, because Eöl's story is never discussed in great depth, I've taken my liberties with the ambiguous areas, such as his genealogy.

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**moon drunk**

The sun was setting in the West, blazing furious and red in spite of the Doriath woods. It would be a mockery if it wasn't a daily occurrence, to Eöl at any rate, who lounged in a tree and gazed at it directly. He was defiant to his situation, as much to the unresponsive orb in the sky as to his uncle on the throne in Menegroth. He sneered unconsciously at the thought, the skin of the tree cutting into his tightening grip. The Girdle of Melian made his homeland all the more unbearable, more like a cage as it had ever felt to him. Her protection was unwelcome to him; the time had come to cast it off.

Dropping noiselessly to the ground, Eöl passed through the forest in the twilight without destination. The light of the night sky was to him as the life-giving light of the sun is to most of the Eldar, among whom he could not count himself. They would not have had him anyway, should he have desired their company. While the rest of the Doriath elves walked lightly (in more ways than one), Eöl was burdened by his own thoughts, sullen and brooding. As he passed them in the forest, their eyes lingered on his grim form, and it seemed to them he left a shadow in his wake.

Soon he would take his leave of this place, but not tonight. The night was his own, and he would not waste it quarreling in the halls of Thingol.

At length he reached a clearing in the trees and passed into the light of the rising moon. Like any other elf, and perhaps in spite of himself, the night sky made him luminescent. In that clearing one might say there was life to his darkness, and if one should witness his eyes in such light... they were dark yet bright and deep, betraying a darkness at his core, tensely still and smoldering.

The air was cool and sharp; he breathed deeply before passing again under the trees, ignoring the oppression of Melian's enchantments. There Thingol stood before him, looking on Eöl from his superior height somewhat disparagingly. With palpable tension he spoke:

"Though you are welcome here as kin, your distaste for my realm has been marked; you have not, of course, gone to great lengths to conceal it."

Eöl answered him with silence; he was, by nature, an elf of few words. It was rather obvious, at any rate, that Thingol had something to say. Why should he need to draw it from him?

Exasperated, Thingol continued, "You know that the boundary of this realm will not prevent you from leaving, but where you take refuge is, to me, some matter of concern. You carry a darkness with you, Eöl, and where you tread a shadow follows."

"Then give me leave to dwell in darkness away from here, and you will be rid of my shadow." Eöl spoke as though he were a king answering a captor.

At this Thingol studied him, but Eöl betrayed nothing and Thingol could only guess the elf's intentions. It was, however (essentially at least), predetermined. After a silence, he nodded. "Leave this place. I expect to never see you within this wood again, though I will be awaiting news of you."

One would think it was a gift, when in essence it was little more than willful exile. He almost preferred it that way.

He rode hard eastward, under cover of dark, so that the cold air stung his eyes and made him short of breath. But Eöl was strong, and covered a great distance before the harsh sun drove him to find refuge in a grove and rest.

There, lying on a poorly-shaded patch of earth, Eöl shielded is eyes with his arm and pressed his face to the ground, huddled like some wretch; and he loathed his situation all the more, though without the bitterness of captivity. There he promised himself in his heart that he would live as master of himself and servant to no one; he would from the very rock of the earth fashion a hall away from the sun and the Kinslayers, more grand than any Noldo's hall simply because it was his. And he no longer considered himself kin to Thingol or any other.


End file.
